Stage-pocket.



H. BISSING.

STAGE POCKET.

APPLICATION FILED T11R17, 1911.

Patented July 16, 1912.

VE/VTOR WITNESSES 2/1 TTORIV E Y COLUMBIA PLANOURAPH CO.,WASHINGTON. n.c.

HARRY BISSING, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

STAGE-POCKET.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY Brssme, a citizen of the United States,residing in the borough of Manhattan, cit-y, county, and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stage-Pockets, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to electrical outlet boxes, and more particularlyto that class of such devices known as theatrical floorboxes orstage-pockets.

The object of the invent-ion is to enable the socket to be attached as aunit to the interior of the casing or box proper after the latter hasbeen placed in its opening in the stage floor. Thus, the box or casingcan be positioned in the floor during the work thereon and the socket bekept out of the way of dirt and damage until the floor is completed,after which the socket can be fixed in place without danger of itscontacts becoming injured by foreign matter.

Further objects are to provide means whereby the socket may be readilyattached and detached by operations performed through the open top ofthe casing, to incase the insulating blocks of the socket in such amanner that they cannot fall apart or become loosened, and in general toprovide an improved and simplified construction of box and socket.

With these ends in View, the invention consists in the parts,improvements and combinations hereinafter described and moreparticularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the invention by means of thepreferred embodiment thereof: Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinalsection through the pocket positioned in an opening in the stage floorand with the attachable. socket secured therein; Fig. 2is a similar viewshowing the pocket before the attachment of the socket; Fig. 3 is aperspective view of the unitary socket; and Fig. 4 is a verticaltransverse section through the complete pocket positioned in the stagefloor.

The numeral 10 designates the casing or box proper, which is adapted tobe inserted in an opening in the stage floor. The form of the box may besomewhat varied, but in the preferred construction it has a de pendingrectangular neck part 11, which fits in the opening 12 in the floor andhas an external flange 13 overlying the floor and Specification ofLetters Patent.

Application filed February 17, 1911.

Serial No. 609,259.

secured thereto as by means of screws l t; the box also has the bodypart 15 from the front portion of which the neck part 11 extends upward.This body part is shown as having vertical side walls 16 and a verticalrear wall 17. The rear wall 18 of the neck part 11 is extendedvertically downward for a certain distance, and a horizontal top wall 19extends rearward from the foot of the vertical wall 18 to the top of thewall 17. The bottom and front of the body part of the box are shownopen, but these may be closed or a movable cover, may be providedtherefor. The top of the neck part 11 is provided with a movable cover,preferably a pivoted cover .Z-it hinged to the rear side of the neckpart, and being desirably provided at its forward edge with a slottedopening 25 for the passage of the cable of the attaching plug, shown indotted lines.

The box or casing 10 is preferably cast in one piece, but this may bevaried. The neck part 11 is sufficiently long and the body part 15 isproperly proportioned and shaped so that the box can readily bepositioned in the floor opening by inserting thebody part 15 verticallytherein and then turning the box to bring the body part under the floorand the neck part in the opening. This is done before the unitary socket20, now to be described, is finally fixed in place inside the box. Also,before the socket is inserted, the end of a horizontal pipe or conduit21 is secured in an opening 22 in the rear wall 17 as by means of nuts23 or the like, and the wires 41 carried by this pipe are pulled throughinto the box. The pipe may be firmly attached to the floor structure inany suitable manner. The box casing now prac' tically constitutes partof the floor structure, is coupled up with the wire conduit, and awaitsthe attachment of the unitary socket.

' In accordance with the invention, the socket 20 constitutes a unitarystructure in itself, so that it remains in assembled condi- PatentedJuly ie, 1912.

tion when separated from the box casing,

and the means for attaching this socket to th casing are accessible andoperable through the open top of the casing. Preferably, the

said means attaches the socket to the vertical wall 18. Also inaccordance with the invention the socket preferably comprises a casing,most desirably a one-piece, rectangular, metal casing 26, open at itsends, and separate insulating blocks 27 lining the casing and removablysecured thereto as by screws 50, the two contacts 28 and 29 beingsecured to the inner faces of opposite blocks. This socket is preferablydisposed in an inclined position beneath the horizontal wall 19. Thespecific form of the attaching means may be widely varied, but in thepreferred form of the invention it comprises a vertical flange 10extended upward from the upper wall of the socket casing 26, the flangebeing inclined with relation to the mouth of the socket andconvenientlyintegral therewith, and a screw 30 passing in an inclined positionthrough alined openings in the flange and in the wall 18, the opening inthe latter wall being threaded. Thus the attaching means is readilyaccessible through the top of the casing for manipulation by means of ascrewdriver. Additional supporting means, in the nature of a rest forthe bottom of the socket, is preferably provided. The specificconstruction of this device may be considerably varied, but itpreferably consists of a metal strap 31 disposed transversely of thelower part of the box casing and laterally tilted, so as to afford firmsupport to the inclined socket. The strap 31 may be secured to the boxcasing by means of flanges 32 at its ends, attached to the side walls 16by any suitable means. The rest preferably carries means for centeringthe socket and supporting the same against lateral thrusts and stresses.Simple embodiments of such means are found in angled pieces 33 havingone flange of each secured flat against the strap 31 and the otherflanges standing vertically and spaced apart by the width of the socketcasing. It will be obvious that the rest 31 and side supports 33preferably form part of the boxcasing when the latter is inserted in thestage floor, before the attachment of the socket 20. In attaching thesocket, the latter is merely slipped downward and rearward over the rest31 and between the sidesupports 33 until the flange 40 comes against thevertical wall 18,

. when the screw 30 may be readily inserted.

Before the attachment of the socket, the wires 41 are pulled through thebox suflicientlyto permit the connections on their ends to be secured tothe contact plates 28 and29.-

The operation of the invention has been explained during the descriptionof the structure thereof, and further account is therefore unnecessary.

It will be obvious that-the socket can be as readily detached from thebox casing, as

' attached thereto.

What I claim as new is: 1

1. In a-floor'box, the combination of a casing having a mouth, adepending neck, a body portion with top wall projecting rearwardly fromsaid neck, an inclined hollow socket lying beneath said wall, saidsocket provided with a cover,

containing plug contacts within it, said socket carrying an inclinedflange at its mouth and securing means carried by the flange anddirected toward the mouth of the casing so as to be operatable throughsaid mouth. 7

2. A floor box, comprising a casing adapted to be supported in a' holein the floor and a neck, a rearwardly projecting body portion, anattachable and detachable upwardly inclined hollow socketthereinunderneath said body portion, said socket containing plug contactswithin it, an

inclined flange attached to said socket, hav

ing a hole'to receive a screw for securing said socket to said casing,said screw being inclined toward the mouth ofthe casing so as to beaccessible and operatable there-- through.

8. A floor-box, comprising a casing adapted to be supported in anopening in the floor and having a vertical wall near its top, and

an attachable and detachable unitary. socket supported in an inclinedposition therein and having an upward projecting flange inclined withrelation to the mouth of the socket and means for detachably securingsaid flange to said vertical wall.

4:. A floor-box, comprising a casing adapted to be supported in anopening in the floor and having a vertical wall near its top, across-piece in the lower part'of the casing,

and an attachable and detachablerunitaryj socket resting in an inclinedposition'on said cross-piece and having an upward project-' ing verticalflange and means for detachably securingsaid flange to said verticalwall.

5. A floor box, comprising a casing adapt ed to be supported in anopeningin the floor, and having a body portion with a top wall, a restin its-lower part, and an attachable and detachable'unitary socketsupported in an inclined position on said rest with its mouth facing themouth of the box, said socket having means at its mouth, for cletachablysecuring it to, the upper part of the casing, which means are accessibleand operatablethrough the mouth of the floor box.

6. A floor-box, comprising a casing adapted to be supported in anopening in the floor, a cross-pieceinthe lower part thereof suitablyspaced from the top wall of said casing having upstanding centeringprojections, and an attachable and detachable unitary socket resting'inan inclinedposition on said cross-piece between said projections and inthe spacebetween the cross piece and the top wall of the casing, andmeansforsecuring socket therein, said socket consisting of an inclinedcasing having a vertical attaching flange extending upward from the topof its back wall, removable insulating blocks lining said socket casing,and contacts carried by said blocks.

8. A floor-box, comprising a casing having an open top provided with acover hinged at the rear, a depending vertical wall at the rear of saidopen top, and a horizontal wall extended rearward from the lower end ofsaid vertical wall, and an attachable and detachable unitary socketoccupying an inclined position in said casing beneath said horizontalwall and having means at its upper part for attachment to said verticalwall, sald means being accessible through the open top of the casingwhen the cover is raised.

9. In a floor box, the combination with a casing having a mouth, adepending neck and a body portion extending rearwardly from said neckand adapted to underlie the floor, said casing also having a rest spacedfrom the top wall of said body portion so as to form a pocket, a sidesupport on said rest, of a socket located on said rest and next to saidside support and adapted to be inserted into position between said restand top wall, through the mouth of said casing and means carried by saidsocket accessible and operatable through the mouth of the casing forattaching said socket to said casing.

10. In a floor box the combination with a casing having a body partadapted to be dis posed below the floor and an upstanding neck part atthe front of said body part, said neck part being provided with a floorflange for supporting the box, said casing also having a rest and sidesupports in said body part, of a socket supported on said rest andbetween said side supports and means carried by said socket accessibleand operatable through the mouth of the neck for attaching said socketto the casing.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HARRY BISSING. Witnesses:

EVERETT ANNETTE, LENA SCHWARZ.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

